INTERVIEW: Jeffrey St. Arromand,Tricia Lee & Ryan Serhant On Balancing Careers, Disappointments + More

Summary

---

The Breakfast Club – INTERVIEW: Jeffrey St. Arromand, Tricia Lee & Ryan Serhant On Balancing Careers, Disappointments + More

Date: December 10, 2025
Host(s): DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha God
Guests: Ryan Serhant, Tricia Lee, Jeffrey St. Arromand (Stars of "Owning Manhattan" Season 2, Netflix)

---

Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, The Breakfast Club welcomes Ryan Serhant, Tricia Lee, and Jeffrey St. Arromand—stars of Netflix’s "Owning Manhattan"—to discuss the realities behind luxury real estate, media portrayal versus hard work, personal and professional challenges, and the evolution of representation within the industry. The conversation moves fluidly between honest career advice, emotional truths, the nitty-gritty of real estate deal-making, and the personal impact of life on and off camera.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Reality of Real Estate TV & Building The Brand

• Media vs. Reality:

  • Serhant clarifies the misconception that real estate reality TV is not rooted in authentic sales work:

    “The TV’s like, the last thing. He’s a real agent.” (Ryan Serhant, 03:35)

  • The transition from "Million Dollar Listing" to a more character-driven show:

    “Today, everything is in the palm of your hand... So the shows now are no longer about the access. If you want to make a real estate show and all you have is real estate, no one cares.” (Ryan Serhant, 04:52)

• Owning Manhattan’s Unique Approach:

  • The show succeeds by focusing on the personalities and stories within the firm—unlike canceled peers—grounding the spectacle in authentic experience (05:44).

2. State of the Market & Creative Strategies for Buyers

• Current Market Assessment:
  • Despite a challenging market, Serhant and Lee agree that opportunities persist, especially during the off-season:

    “I think the time is really now… this is when you can get deals. Things that… have been sitting on the market… you can be more aggressive as a buyer.” (Ryan Serhant, 06:27)

• Advice for First-Time Buyers:
  • Lee advocates for co-ownership and creative ways to break into property ownership, especially in high-priced urban markets:

    “The best help… is to buy together and to get creative about it.” (Tricia Lee, 08:27)

    • Serhant adds: “Co ownership for the younger generation is becoming a thing… that we have never done before.” (09:01)

3. The Pressure & Visibility of Being on TV

• Personal Pressures:
  • The cast discusses how their business decisions and vulnerabilities are visible to a global audience:

    “The show is uncomfortably authentic… the show watches us in real time, whether deals get done or not, whether people are happy or not… all three of us have some sort of mental breakdown this season on camera...” (Ryan Serhant, 10:01)

  • Lee reflects on representing as a Black woman in luxury real estate and the freedom to be multidimensional:

    “I created this pressure for myself that I had to… release to really give myself that freedom… I’ll give you the realness of who I am, but I’ll also give you all the layers of who I am…” (Tricia Lee, 11:11)

4. Behind-the-Scenes Realities & Work Ethic

• Misconceptions About Glamour:
  • Real estate is far from instant glamour—long periods without pay, constant rejection, and the grind:

    “There are times when you work for months… without getting paid.” (Ryan Serhant, 14:55) “Six months. And it was no money at all.” (Tricia Lee, 15:10)

• Impact of TV Show on Work:
  • Listings are filmed in real time, so deals are not guaranteed to close on camera—failures are public (15:54).
• Team and Time Management:
  • The importance of support systems, early starts, and time audits for productivity:

    “Everyone’s got the same amount of hours... Do a time audit…” (Ryan Serhant, 17:35)

5. Navigating Social Media and Influence

• Maintaining Focus:
  • The team emphasizes keeping “the main thing the main thing”—real estate comes before any influencer opportunities or TV fame:

    “Our main thing is real estate. That’s what we focus on… If something else comes along… then that’s the main thing.” (Ryan Serhant, 19:17)

• Agents as Influencers:
  • The evolution of agent branding via social media and virtual tours, and why video marketing is essential for client engagement (20:29).

6. Coping With Loss, Disappointments, and High-Stakes Deals

• Memorable Lost Deals:
  • Serhant recounts missing out on a nearly billion-dollar sale due to the pandemic:

    “We had a contract out for just under $990 million… people started getting sick… the deal gets put on ice, and the deal dies… And I think about that deal dying.” (Ryan Serhant, 25:29)

  • Lee and St. Arromand share stories of lost deals and adapting to fail fast, learning to be less emotionally attached:

    “I had to figure out how to fail a lot faster… learning how to fail fast.” (Tricia Lee, 30:00)

7. Vulnerability, Representation, and Personal Growth

• On-Show Vulnerability:
  • Lee elaborates on why she chose to open up about her personal history and struggles, citing the need to provide a relatable example for others:

    “If you understand their origin story, then everything else makes sense… I felt like, okay, let me explain a little bit about who I am, and the things I’ve come to learn about myself.” (Tricia Lee, 32:16)

  • Her sense of responsibility:

    “I’ve always felt like if they ever give you the mic, then you should make sure that other Black girls feel seen... I’d rather cry and tell you my dirty laundry and tell you who I am…” (Tricia Lee, 33:26)

8. Workplace Culture & Ambition

• Ambition vs. Ego:
  • Serhant underscores the importance of a one-strike policy to curtail toxic behavior, and leading by example to encourage healthy ambition:

    “We have a one strike policy for behavior. If you do not understand the difference between being ambitious and being aggressive, you cannot work here…” (Ryan Serhant, 42:11)

  • Lee and St. Arromand share their origin story as colleagues who became partners in life and work, highlighting the collaborative nature of their success (43:27 – 44:53).

9. Appreciation for the Profession & Realistic Outcomes

• The Toughness of the Industry:
  • Host DJ Envy shares his changed perception after watching his daughter struggle through her first sales:

    “By the time everybody got paid, she got $900… we celebrated, we celebrated like 9 million.” (DJ Envy, 45:12)

    • Lee adds: “I got $1,100. Six months, $1,100.” (45:14)
• Attrition Rate:
  • Lee mentions: “They say 90% of New York State real estate licenses are not renewed.” (Tricia Lee, 45:34)
  • Serhant: “Whoever’s still in the business now, you know that they’re good.” (45:41)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Authenticity and Vulnerability:

  • “Someone said to me yesterday the show is uncomfortably authentic… the show watches us in real time, whether deals get done or not, whether people are happy or not, whether things are going our way or not.” (Ryan Serhant, 10:01)

• On The Myth of TV Glamour:

  • “There’s so much work that we do, we never get paid for… the assumption is when you look really great, maybe Ryan will hire you, and then you’ll end up on the show… it’s the complete opposite business plan.” (Tricia Lee, 15:14)

• On Handling Criticism and Stress:

  • “You have to… understand that people never really grow up. They’re just disguised as like 40-year-old men… and they don’t know who else to take it out on, so they take it out on you…” (Ryan Serhant, 35:19)

• On Building Inclusive Representation:

  • “If they ever give you the mic, then you should make sure that other Black girls feel seen… I’d rather cry and tell you my dirty laundry and tell you who I am…” (Tricia Lee, 33:26)

• On Perseverance:

  • “I had to figure out how to fail a lot faster… learning how to fail fast.” (Tricia Lee, 30:00)
  • “If you put in the work, if you’re good to people, you follow up. You can have a completely limitless career.” (Ryan Serhant, 26:23)

• On Work-Life Balance and Mental Health:

  • “There’s just, like, a lot of this, and I have no one to talk to because everyone is biased… and then I just lost it. And then the cameras are there. I’m like, oh Jesus.” (Ryan Serhant, 37:25)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:09: DJ Envy thanks Ryan Serhant for helping his daughter start her real estate career
• 04:39: Discussion about the evolution of real estate TV
• 06:27: Current market conditions and advice for buyers
• 08:27: Recommendations for first-time/budgeted buyers and collective ownership
• 10:01: The pressures of being authentic on TV
• 11:11: Tricia Lee’s personal pressure as a Black woman in real estate
• 14:55: Realities of unpaid work and grind in real estate
• 17:35: Serhant’s time management advice
• 19:17: How the cast handles social media noise and maintains professional priorities
• 25:29: Serhant’s story of losing a nearly $1B deal
• 30:00: Lee’s philosophy on “failing fast”
• 33:26: Tricia Lee on the importance of being an example for Black girls
• 35:19: How the team processes and absorbs client frustrations
• 37:25: Ryan Serhant’s emotional season finale moment
• 42:11: Creating a culture where ambition doesn’t become ego
• 45:12: DJ Envy’s change in perspective after his daughter’s first deal
• 45:34: Real estate’s high attrition rate

---

Tone and Style

True to The Breakfast Club, the conversation is lively, honest, witty, and sometimes vulnerable. The guests blend motivational insights with candid tales of struggle, persistence, and personal triumph. The dynamic interplay between hosts and guests keeps the tone both motivational and grounded in reality, demystifying both real estate and reality television.

---

Summary

This episode offers a unique behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to survive and thrive in high-stake real estate—and the human stories that make it both compelling TV and a reflection of real hard work. With insights from three different perspectives, listeners will come away understanding the grit, resilience, and evolving representation within luxury real estate, as well as invaluable career lessons that extend far beyond buying and selling property.

---

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Ryan Serhant]

Guaranteed Human the holidays are already in full swing. The lights are up, you got good people, good food and good vibes. And there to help keep that energy going is Sprite Winter Spice Cranberry with that crisp cranberry flavor with a smooth winter spice twist. It's the drink that livens up game nights, gift exchanges, or just catching up in the kitchen with a burst of holiday flavor. It's a seasonal favorite, but it's only here for a limited time, so grab it while you can. Sprite Winter Spice Cranberry Sprite Obey your thirst.

So you're telling me that the AI that's meant to make everyone's job easier to manage just adds more to manage on top of the thousands of apps the IT department already manages? Funny how that works. Any business can add AI. IBM helps you scale and manage AI to change how you do business. Lets create smile to business IBM.

The clock's running out on December deal drops at Lowe's, but there's still time to wrap up something they'll love.

Shop great gifts under $50 like the.

Dewalt Elite Series 100 piece bit set plus if you order by 2pm, you get same day delivery by 8pm Shop December deal drops while you can. Lowe's we help you save.

This is Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. JBL Wireless Earbuds are for those who are the first to try something unique.

The first wireless earbuds on the market.

With a touchscreen case which allows you to control your audio without reaching for your phone. They also have a touchscreen smart charging case for one touch control. I love being able to touch my buds and control the volume with a built in wireless transmitter that lets you.

Plug and play with any dev want.

JBL Wireless Earbuds connects you to all your favorite music, movies and games. JBL Wireless Earbuds Grab a [e-mail] making.

[Jenna Kim Jones]

The holidays magical for everyone on your list. It's no small feat, but with TJ Maxx your magic multiplies with quality finds arriving daily through Christmas Eve, you'll save on luxe cashmere, the latest tech toys and more. So you can check off any every name on your list and treat yourself to a holiday look that'll turn heads. Now you know where to go to make all that holiday magic.

[Tricia Lee]

It's TJ Maxx.

[Jenna Kim Jones]

Of course. It's shaping up to be a very magical holiday.

[Ryan Serhant]

Breakfast club.

[DJ Envy]

Morning everybody. It's DJ Envy.

[Ryan Serhant]

Just hilarious.

[DJ Envy]

Charlemagne. The Guy. We are the breakfast club. Lon LaRose is here as well. And we got some special guests in the building this morning. Season two of Owning Manhattan is out right now on Netflix. We have Ryan Sirhan, Tricia Lee, and Jeffrey St. Armand. Did I say your name right? All right, beautiful. Welcome, guys.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

Good morning.

[Tricia Lee]

Thank you.

[Ryan Serhant]

Let's go.

[DJ Envy]

First, I want to say thank you to Ryan. I told him, I called him one day and I said, my daughter's in nyu. She wanted to get into real estate. And he told me, well, first she has to get a license. So she got her license in New York, got her. Her license in Jersey. I called her back, and he actually gave her a job, which was pretty dope. And she learned the real estate industry from Sirhan and the ins, the outs. And then she's. Now she's in jerseys and she's working. So I just want to say thank you.

[Ryan Serhant]

Thanks, man.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

You gave her the real estate agent. He don't just do it for TV.

[Ryan Serhant]

The TVs like, the last thing. He's a real agent.

[Podcast Host]

That probably happens a lot, though. People think you, you don't really do it anymore.

[Ryan Serhant]

I bump into people in New York on the street all the time, and they're like, what are you, what are you doing in New York today? I'm like, I live here.

Oh, it's, it's not on a set in la. I'm like, no, it's real. It's the most real TV show in the history of the world.

And you're actually working.

Yeah, yeah, actually.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

But it's because you give actor, like, the way.

Really?

[Tricia Lee]

Yeah. You look like a compliment.

[Podcast Host]

When I saw you, I was about to say you look exactly like you look on tv. It's like the look.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, yeah. I try to stay in character. I shaved my head this summer and I was recognized less, and it was a, it was hard for me, me, so went back into costume.

You know, that's how the skin work.

Right.

[DJ Envy]

I realized that there's a lot of. At one time, I feel like all on tv, there was nothing but real estate shows.

[Ryan Serhant]

Right.

[DJ Envy]

And they were good. I thought they were great. And then I see, like, none. It's like they all. What, what is happening with the real estate industry where people are either leaving or maybe people are not doing as well as they experience or thought. Why is that?

[Ryan Serhant]

I, I, I mean, we all have feelings about that. I, I don't think it has to do with the real estate industry. I think it has to do with, with media and how people Consume media. It used to be. So Million Dollar Listing was the first show I did in 2012. Right.

[DJ Envy]

I missed that show, too.

[Ryan Serhant]

We did it for 10 years. And that show was special because you couldn't get access to a $10 million house. Right. As a viewer, like, you couldn't see a $50 million penthouse. You had to turn on TV to see what that looked like. Today, everything is in the palm of your hand. You can go on Sora and invent one if you want to. So the shows now are no longer about the access. So if you're a. If you want to make a real estate show and all you have is real estate, no one cares. And I think what makes this show so special, people like Tricia and Jeffrey, who are characters. They're great people, but they are characters in this insane world of New York City real estate. And that's what people want to see, that the real estate is actually like the. The bookends, right? It's the skeleton, like the backdrop. Yeah, it's the backdrop. And then. So a lot of the shows have come off the air. They've tried and they've been canceled because they sock. Except for ours. Yeah.

And we tell a great story, too. Like, how often do you have, like, a couple that's together, working together, you know, live together and. And just together, shoot together, you know, and actually come from Brooklyn to go into Manhattan. So there's interesting storylines, and we really try to, like, tell it differently so that the viewer, at some point, you're gonna get tired of seeing the same thing over and over again. So, I mean, I think the thing that we really did different is, like, we really got into great storytelling. And really, the. Visually, when you look at it, it looks almost like a docu series. It doesn't really feel like typical reality tv.

[DJ Envy]

And how's the market now? How is the market? I mean, is. They're saying that house has been on market the longest in a long time. Is it a buyer's market? Is it a seller's market? Where should people be looking? Should they be looking now? Should they sit it out? What's your thoughts on it?

[Ryan Serhant]

I mean, personally, I think it's always a good time to look. I mean, whenever, like, there's a couple of things. There's a tale of two markets, I call it, because you have. If you look at, you know, luxury sector, 4 million and up, and the data, you got to be careful, like, what you read and what you hear and just really look at the data. The data shows that there's been a lot of sales in that track, in that price point, and now conversely, with lower price points, people are affected by interest rates, but we do see interest rates are dropping and getting lower. So then people start to become more active. So I think the time is really now, and especially this time of the season, this is when you can get deals. You know, during this time, things that, to your point, have been sitting on the market for a little bit, but now you can be more aggressive as a buyer. So it just find that little comfortable medium between, you know, sellers that are realistic about pricing and buyers who are realistic about where they could land and where they can find a deal. What are you finding, Trish?

[Tricia Lee]

Well, I think it's a little different for us because our brokerage gets quite a bit of visibility. So there's the market and then there's our business, which is very different. Like, we get. I mean, our phones are ringing, we're very busy. We are listing billions of dollars of real estate.

[Ryan Serhant]

And.

[Tricia Lee]

And I think that owning Manhattan has some part of that. You know, the Sirhant brand has a lot to do with it. And I think the characters that are at the firm, I think everyone that is at Sirhant has such their. Of their own individual story. Like, I think. I don't know if it was Ryan or when the producer said it's like all of these people just show up and they all think that they're the lead and they're the main character and they just happen to all be sitting in a room. And that's how it is because in my mind, I'm the star of the show. And I think that's the same. It's the same for everyone else as.

[Ryan Serhant]

You actually are the star of the show.

[Tricia Lee]

But I think that's what's interesting about the brand is it really attracts people that are really like the face of their business and they're comfortable with that and they lean into it and they use media in really creative ways to do it. So our business is very different than the market business right now. We're grateful for that.

[DJ Envy]

I was going to ask, you know, with the market being bad in a lot of places and people being broke and just being able to afford, you know, rent at the time. Yeah, they've been encouraging people to start buying houses so that money that they're paying for rent could actually be towards house. Is there places or some type of grants that you send people to where they could actually get help with doing that?

[Tricia Lee]

I think the best help personally, because, I mean, for Speaking about New York specifically, is to buy together and to get creative about it. You know, she's getting that right. And I think that millennials missed out on that mark. But when I speak to people, especially all through Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, wherever, there's so many stories are you and I bought and then as soon as we were up on our feet, then we got, we made sure our sister bought and then we made sure our cousin bought. So when I talk to people and we're selling these houses, multimillion dollar homes people have been in for 20, 30 years, the stories are all the same. They got creative and they did it together. You know, you can easier, you can.

[Ryan Serhant]

Sell portions of an llc. So co ownership for younger generation is becoming a thing that we do now that we have never done before now. So New York City's hard because you can only cut it up a couple of different ways. But like, if you like, you can take eight, eight cousins in Florida and you can cut up a purchase price times eight. And maybe only two of you live there, but the rest of you are helping and it's an investment for them and, and you get to ride the market as the market increases.

[Tricia Lee]

Equity is always gorgeous, you know, especially, I mean, in New York. I've watched it for 22 years straight, and I just, I always tell everyone we can walk down the block anywhere in Brooklyn or anywhere in Manhattan, and we feel proud of the work that we've done for our clients. Because if I see you five years from now, I know I'm going to be the favorite person you run into today, because I know I was a part of that really smart investment that you made. And that feels good in the daily work for sure.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

What's the quiet, you know, pressures y' all carry now because of this show? Because, you know, when you think about your brand, your brokerage, your brokerage, they're all tied to decisions that are made on this show. Is there any pressure that comes with it?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yes. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, I, I, someone said to me yesterday the show is uncomfortably authentic. And I think to your point about other shows not being on the air anymore, no one wants to be sold, right? No one wants to watch stuff that's super produced anymore. Like, the show watches us in real time, whether deals get done or not, whether people are happy or not, whether things are going our way or not. I think all three of us have some sort of mental breakdown this season on camera that we probably wish was not out there. And so there's There's a lot of pressure, but I think we, we also understand the role of our responsibility to, to not just the world, but to our industry. To, to show it in as great of a light as we possibly can and then make use of it, man. Like, we are so lucky. Like, it is not lost on us. Like, it's, it's hard enough to get one TV show, let alone a big one like this that's on a global network like Netflix that drops all over the world in one day, where people get to say, oh, I'll go work with those people. I mean, it's a, it's a massive commercial for us.

And then you can have it picked up for season two. That's, that's even the bigger thing.

[Tricia Lee]

That's the hardest.

[Ryan Serhant]

Or three. Three. We want three. Now everybody go watch it so we can get three.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

So the next goal, what's the quiet presence for y'?

[Ryan Serhant]

All?

[Tricia Lee]

I think it has changed. I think for season one, for me, it was like I, I am showing up as the black woman and I created this, this pressure for myself that I had to at some point release to really give myself that freedom. And then obviously I felt that it gave other black women that freedom. I was like, I'm just going to show up as me and y' all are going to love it or leave it. I don't care. And I'll give you the realness of who I am, but I'll also give you all the layers of who I am. So I'm not going to just show up and be the person that's sassy. I'm also going to be smart. I'm also going to be gentle. I'm going to be vulnerable. I'm going to be like, I can be, I can be very maternal in some moments. You know, I can be a teacher in some moments. I can also check you in other moments. And I, so I felt like, let me just show all of that. And that's the only pressure I'm going to put on myself now. I feel that the pressure is kind of always showing that we are actual real agents because that's the question we could ask the most. And I mean, I can't speak for everyone on the show, but I'm 10 years in. I had my 10 year anniversary last week.

[DJ Envy]

Congratulations.

[Tricia Lee]

And another 10 year anniversary as congrats. But yeah, so it's like.

[Ryan Serhant]

When you five let me know.

[Tricia Lee]

But no, it's, it's, to me, it's like I do feel the need to, you know, just validate my business. And I never felt that before, but being on tv, people just decide that you're not actually really doing this. I have to be on top of my emails to the moment I walk in and talk to you guys and then start right back up the minute I walk out. My clients don't care nothing about what I'm doing right now or that show. They care about their assets.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

I don't know. What about you, Jeffrey?

[Ryan Serhant]

No, man. I think one thing just to piggyback on what Trisha is saying, I think it's important to understand, like, the vulnerability that we reveal on the show because with us, part of our story arc is that we're coming from Brooklyn into Manhattan and there's some great story origins with a new listing that we have, like here on 5th Ave, 5 East 59th Street. And the origin story with Trish and how that happened, which is nothing that we plan or stage whatsoever. This is all authentic. And how that comes full circle the moment and when you watch the show, you'll get to, you know, to really understand it, but it's. It really heartfelt, I would say probably one of the most compelling moments of the season.

[Tricia Lee]

I mean, we're shocked. I'm so shocked. I forget the cameras are there and I'm like, what? And they catch everything because it was just. Yeah, it was such a surprise. Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

But to answer your question, though, for me, me, what's really important is what Trish says is to really make sure that people understand that we know the business, that we're just not. Like you said with Ryan. Oh, you. You look very Hollywood. So, you know, I'm someone to put on a suit, you know, whatever, come in every day. This is my look every single day, every day. And so people think that, oh, this is all you need to do to really be successful. But the truth is, you have to know the business inside out. You have to be cognizant of what's happening in real time. Because, you know, everyone's gonna envy's gonna grill me on why is this going on? Because he knows everything about real estate, whoever it is, and there's so much information out there. You gotta be able to disseminate, like, what's the truth and how does it really impact you? Because everything, you know, real estate is really both macro and micro. So you got to be able to understand what's micro for your world and the macro piece that you read from, you know, on every other platform.

[DJ Envy]

So I will say this, though. I didn't necessarily understand how difficult real Estate was.

[Ryan Serhant]

Right.

[DJ Envy]

Until I had a daughter in it, Right.

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[DJ Envy]

And I'm watching her with the emails and sending out emails, and then I'm watching her. She'll get somebody, and then she'll go to show an apartment, and she'll drive 40 minutes to that apartment. And then the person to say, I have to. I can't do it today.

[Tricia Lee]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

And how much time it takes. Can you break down how much effort, energy, it goes. Goes into doing it? Because people just see the glitz. They didn't see the glam, but the.

[Ryan Serhant]

Work that goes for free.

[DJ Envy]

Like, Jesus.

[Podcast Host]

I think the show, too, makes everything look glamorous. Even though y' all show some hardships, but people don't really get the. The end of it. Like, the actual groundwork.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah. I mean, we're in 10 years for a reason.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

So it just didn't happen right off the bat. We're here on owning Manhattan, or we're just selling, you know, 15, $20 million properties. You have to start from the grind. I mean, there are times when you work for months to two months to three months without getting paid. Like, how long did you get paid on your first deal?

[Tricia Lee]

Oh, my gosh, six months. And it was no money at all. No money at all.

[Ryan Serhant]

So you gotta.

[Tricia Lee]

Yeah. And there's. I feel like the shows, they tend to show all the glitz. And there's so much work that we do, we never get paid for. There's so many efforts that we make that nobody cares about. And I feel like being on the show, I want to make sure I share that story, because the assumption is when you look really great, and maybe Ryan will hire you, and then you'll end up on the show, and then you'll sell real estate. And it's the complete opposite business plan. It's like, you've got to do a really great job for even be, like, on his radar. Yeah. To even be. End up on the radar. And then being on the show creates pressure, too, because I don't want to put a product out there that I can't sell, because, I mean, every time I run into anybody, they're like, oh, so what happened with. You know, that's the worst part. Yeah, it's the hardest part, you know.

[Ryan Serhant]

Because you film in real time, and so you're like, hey, I just got this listing. This building or this penthouse, something like, let's go film it. And then. But filming doesn't last forever. You eventually have to stop. And if it hasn't sold, that's what happens. And then everyone. What happened?

[Tricia Lee]

Oh, did you.

[Ryan Serhant]

Did you fail? You failed in front of the world.

[Tricia Lee]

Yes.

[Ryan Serhant]

At selling an apartment. That's not that hard.

And the one thing people don't realize as we're shooting, oftentimes we're still negotiating in real time.

Yeah.

So we're shooting under the guise of this is going to be sold on the show and we're just hoping that it gets sold. Like, that was the case last season for Less. I mean, it was a property that we. We were just. We shot it, we closed it and like, we were still at the closing table trying to close in real time as we were shooting the scene of it being closed.

[Tricia Lee]

Yeah. And it was like such a difficult transaction. It got like awarded Real estate board.

[Ryan Serhant]

Oh, yeah.

[Tricia Lee]

They.

[Ryan Serhant]

They won deal of the year.

[Tricia Lee]

Deal of the year for all of New York. So it. And that's really an award that's hard.

[DJ Envy]

To do, by the way.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like, that's a real.

[Tricia Lee]

That's a real deal that shouldn't have closed. That's. That's the reason for the award. The whole industry gets together to say, you actually did it. That was the deal that was on the show first season. So imagine the layers of stress there, you know, and you're on TV for the first time as well. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

But I was going to say, so on top of all the stress you're on tv, you also have like, your personal lives that are being showed. There's a character there. Where do y' all find the time to do all of that, like, work? Like, what are your teams like behind the scenes that help you guys? Because there's a lot of interaction and correspondence with trying to close something.

[Tricia Lee]

There's so much support, though.

[Ryan Serhant]

We start our day, I mean, not as early as this guy. We start our day, like 5 in the morning. He's up at 4:30.

[Tricia Lee]

Yeah. He's at the gym harassing people. Because the gym isn't open at five o'. Clock.

[Ryan Serhant]

Right, Right. So I may meet him at the gym when he's leaving. And that's at 6. And I'm thinking I'm there early.

He's leaving. Fist bump in the.

He's like, good seeing you, Jeff. But it's just really time management and just having a support system, like, thankfully.

That'S part of the reasons why and not wasting time. Yeah. A big piece of advice I give to people a lot, especially younger, younger people, is you have the time. Everyone's got the same amount of hours.

Yep.

Like, I have the same amount of hours that she has that Oprah has. You know what I mean? Like, we all have the same amount of time in a day and do a time audit. Like, actually, just same way if you're trying to lose weight, like, you do a diet, you know, journal, to see, like, oh, wait, you're right. Like, I do eat a lot. I just eat a little bit all the time, and then it all adds up. Same thing with time. Like, if you'll. You'll see. Shoot. Okay, my screen time. Wow. I did open TikTok 72 times today. What if I didn't do that? What else could I do? You know? And so that's like. That's an epidemic. And that brain rot. Right. You know, it's real. It's totally real. Which is, like, in Australia now, they outlawed social media for kids under 16, which I think is really going to change the landscape, you know, country by country by country. And I think it's a major mental health issue just because it's easier. And then you're never bored.

Right?

And kids need to be bored. Like, they got to figure things out. They got to find things to be difficult. And it's one of the harder things about hiring kids now at a school to come work in real estate is they're like, all right, well, where's the. Where's the thing? The thing, the thing, the thing, the thing. Like, you need to sit still and you just need to put in the work and build it. They've never done it before. Like, they've never built a block house because you can't swipe a block house.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

How did that impact y'?

[Tricia Lee]

All?

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

Right. Because y' all are real estate agents, and I love what you're saying about social media because it doesn't just impact kids, it impacts adults. But y' all are on TV now. Yeah, but y' all actually have a job to do, so your day job is literally on television. How do you avoid getting caught up in what people are saying about y'?

[Tricia Lee]

All?

[Ryan Serhant]

Keep the main thing. The main thing.

Tomlin said that, you know, like a football coach, like, our main thing is real estate. That's what we focus on.

Yeah.

The show is another part of something else that we do. If something else comes along and we become influencers and then that becomes the main thing, then that's the main thing.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

If you give up real estate agents.

[Ryan Serhant]

Well, stand by, influencer. Stand by. With the type of money influencers.

No.

Okay.

I think they used to make a lot of money.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

Real estate agents are doing well. Way better than most of these but.

[Podcast Host]

There'S a part of it where real estate agents kind of have to be influential on digital.

[Tricia Lee]

I feel like real estate agents are the most influential. Yes. What most people.

[Podcast Host]

Now you go to a tik tok to watch a tour of a house before you go in person.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

Yeah, but I want to see the house.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah, so you'll go in person, but you're on tik tok. You want to see the agent, you want to see how they present it, you want to read everything.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

I want to see the house.

[Podcast Host]

I'm just telling you how people go.

[Ryan Serhant]

What get you into seeing the house?

The house, the video.

[DJ Envy]

The real estate agent that's used to, he shows the houses so you get used to selling type of house, you know, virtual tours.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

I did when I purchased houses, you know, I mean, I don't need y'.

[Ryan Serhant]

All.

[DJ Envy]

I want to go because you're only going to show me the good parts of the house.

[Ryan Serhant]

When you show me that, I'll go.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

After I watch it online. I'll watch it online and then I'll go.

[Ryan Serhant]

That's true. That's a great point. Then people do the videos. I mean, we make, you know, we have a whole production company at our company that does all the property tours because it is important to do. And you see the views skyrocket once we found the buyer, oftentimes because it uses it as a reinforcing mechanism to send to all their friends and family. Like, what do you think about this? And so if it's just a version virtual tour, everyone gets to make their own determination.

[Podcast Host]

The holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year. Filled with joy and laughter. A little bit of the festive chaos we all secretly love. From long shopping lists to travel plans to family dinners, it's a lot happening all at once. But this season, Coca Cola wants to remind everyone that the magic isn't in the hustle and bustle. It's finding joy in the little moments. Like laughing over old memories, playing holiday games, or taking that first sip of an ice cold Coca Cola. That cuts through all the holiday frenzy and brings the cool comfort to your soul. Because that's the good stuff. The joy hiding in plain sight. The sound of laughter mixing with the clink of glasses. The calm between the songs and the stories. And when things start to feel like they're doing the most, that crisp, delicious taste of Coca Cola can be the reset everyone needs. Just a little reminder that the season isn't about rushing, it's about refreshing. So wherever the holidays take you, slow down. Take a breath and savor the moment. Enjoy a Coca Cola refresh your holidays.

[Ryan Serhant]

Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you a very happy half off holiday. Because right now Mint Mobile is offering you the gift of 50% off unlimited. To be clear, that's half price, not half the service. Mint is still premium unlimited wireless for a great price.

[Tricia Lee]

So that means a half day.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, give it a try. At Mintmobile.

Upfront payment of $45 for.

[Tricia Lee]

Three month plan equivalent to 15 per month required new customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow 135 gigabytes of networks busy.

[Jenna Kim Jones]

Taxes and fees extra c mintmobile.com breaking news everybody. Not everything is terrible. I repeat, not everything is terrible. The Ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones is proof that the Internet, it hasn't ruined humanity entirely.

[Ryan Serhant]

Let me start by saying it's a.

Great day to be a gray shirt team Rubicon.

You know, it truly is a team.

Those folks, myself included, all had one desire, which is helping folks in disaster. Trying to be a little bit of.

Hope in a really, really bad situation.

[Jenna Kim Jones]

It's like magic, you guys. So put down your doom scroller and pick up your faith in humanity and join me, Jenna, for the Ripple Effect. It's a reminder that you can start a ripple that changes everything. You really can.

[Tricia Lee]

We give just that nugget of hope helping other people. For some of our gray shirts, it's during a time when they need help and by helping others, it helps them.

[Jenna Kim Jones]

Listen to the ripple Effect with Jenna Kim Jones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[LifeLock Advertiser]

Tis the season for identity theft. This time of year, most of us are checking off our holiday gift lists. But guess what? Identity thieves have lists too. And your personal information might be on them. Protect your identity with LifeLock. LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points every second and alerts you to threats you could miss by yourself. Even if you keep an eye on your bank and credit card statements, if your identity is stolen, your own US based restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed or your money back. And all plans are backed by the million dollar protection package. The last thing you want to do this holiday season is face drained accounts, fraudulent loans or other financial losses from identity theft all alone. Make this season about joy, not identity theft. With LifeLock, save up to 40% your first year. Call 1-800-LIFELOCK and use promo code iheart or go to lifelock.com iheart for 40% off terms apply.

[Jenna Kim Jones]

This message comes from Greenlight. Ready to start talking to your kids about Financial literacy. Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app that teaches kids and teens how to earn, save, spend wisely, and invest. With your guardrails in place with green light, you can send money to kids quickly. Set up chores, automate allowance, and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real time notifications. Join millions of parents and kids building healthy financial habits together on Greenlight. Get started risk [e-mail] iheartion whether they like or not.

[Ryan Serhant]

But if it's something like it, certainly at the way we do real property tours, walking you through the highlights, then everyone else like, well, yeah, that's awesome. So it does help get. Get deals done.

[DJ Envy]

How much. How often do you fall in love with a property or deal? Right. And the reason I'm asking is rarely. Let's say you have 30, 30 houses to sell. Does it hurt when one doesn't go.

[Ryan Serhant]

Oh, you know, I mean, does it.

[DJ Envy]

Hurt when you get three that doesn't go? But if you sell 27, do you just remember those three that didn't sell?

[Tricia Lee]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you shouldn't, but you do, right? Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

The good. The good agents do, I think, you know, and the key is also being able to move on from it, you know, live in that moment of it. Like, oh, damn, I wish I would have closed that and then move on to the next.

[DJ Envy]

So what's the worst house that you. Well, I said worse house. What's the one house that you guys didn't sell that bites at you every day?

[Ryan Serhant]

Oh, my God. I mean, Covid going 2019. Going to 2020. A foreign investment fund wanted to buy a building in New York City. And I'd never sold a building before.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

Okay.

[Ryan Serhant]

And we found a building on the east side. It's called Copper Tower. It's a building that looks like a. Like a K. It was March, the beginning of March of 2020. We had a contract out for just under $990 million. And I had never done a deal like that before, like, literally life changing. The money that was coming in was heavily backed by oil money. And then people started getting sick, and then people started transport, and the price of oil drops. The stock market tanks, the deal gets put on ice, and the deal dies. And then it. Someone else bought it, like two years later. And I think about that deal dying.

[DJ Envy]

What would have been your Commission?

[Ryan Serhant]

It'd be 2% of basically a billion, you know.

Yeah.

So it had been, I think, just under $20 million. And I. And I think about that four times a day. So that one that. That jumped. Right. That's a tough time. I do think about that deal because it was just so. But we all have those. I mean, if you're thinking about getting into real estate and you're thinking about your career, anybody can do it. Because it's 75, 80 hours. You click online, you. The barrier of entry is incredibly low, but the chance of success is. It's even lower. Right. 90% of everyone who gets a license bails because there is no benefits, there's no salary. You have to eat what you kill, and no one tells you what to do. But if you put in the work, if you're good to people, you follow up. You can have a completely limitless career. And I think that opportunity is. Is part of the magic that the show also follows because it does follow all the dead deals. Because our job is to lose. The job is to swing so much that you lose. You take so many shots at the net that you just. You miss them all, because the ones that go in are worth it, you know? And you're only as good as your last deal in this business.

[DJ Envy]

What about you guys? One, the one you missed out on that. That.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, there was a property actually in. In Clinton Hill was 5 million. And we had a contract out, and it was contingent on.

You remember this?

It was contingent on someone who had to, like, get funds from a startup that he had. And so he was. He was. He was all in, put his 20 down. He's like, no, I'm gonna get the additional funds, start. The monies look great. Everything looks great. And so the deal was, if he doesn't get the. The other financing, and he's gonna be all cash. If he doesn't get the financing, he's gonna lose that 20 of the 5 million that he put down.

[DJ Envy]

He lost it. Please don't say he lost it.

[Ryan Serhant]

He lost it. Oh, my goodness.

[Tricia Lee]

He was like, selling his company and it got delayed or something like that.

[DJ Envy]

Yeah, I would be at your door every day.

[Ryan Serhant]

Listen, I told. I was like, you sure you want to do this? Here's, you know, here's what can happen in the event that this doesn't go through. He was so confident. I was like, all right, I feel confident. I'm confident. Until he wasn't. Damn.

Yeah, I was selling an apartment before Uber came out to one of the taxi kings of New York City who owned all the medallions. Super rich, right? Super, super rich. Buying an apartment in lower Manhattan. It's like $25 million, full floor, insane deal, but it's new construction. So you go to contract, like, two years before you close. In those two years, Uber gets approved to come into New York City. Taxis basically disappear. And the value of that medallion, which went from like, 1.1, $1.2 million, went to, like, 200 grand. So his net worth went from here all the way to here, and he couldn't close. And I remember, like, they were going to take his deposit, which, in a building like that is, I think, 20. So 20% of about, you know, of. It's like 5 million bucks kind of, you know, say. But $5 million, you lose. And he, like, grabbed me by my, my suit lapel and he put me up against the wall. I, I, I tell the story because I put it in a book, and he never came after me, but.

And he was like, he was like, I've put people under the bridge. If you don't get me out of this, you're next. And I had to find him an attorney to try to get. And we found something in the offering plan, which is the book that the Attorney General approves one line that the developer hadn't actually done their job on. And we got him out of his deposit. And I'm still here today.

That one was a rough one.

Wow.

[Tricia Lee]

Now, on the other side, for me, I mean, I've. I don't know, I've had a lot of heartbreak. I feel like. Yeah, yeah, I've had a lot of heartbreak, but I don't think anything really stands out. I've definitely learned to kind of get over the heartbreak a lot faster.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

Like, I'll be closing.

[Tricia Lee]

No.

[Ryan Serhant]

These losers, all their deals with.

[Tricia Lee]

But also, like, I had to figure out how to fail a lot faster, you know, because I used to take everything personal and, like, it would take me three days to build back from failure.

[Podcast Host]

What's your sign?

[Tricia Lee]

Pisces.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Tricia Lee]

Yeah. And I had to figure that out, so I had to just figure out, like, how to take my emotions out of it. And, like. And I'm very emotional. This is my job, and I'm, I care about what I do, and I care about my work pride, but she cares.

[Ryan Serhant]

Watch the show.

[Tricia Lee]

Yeah. Yeah. But I've just got. I'm not. I don't feel like I'm like that as much as I used to be. I feel like I've gotten so much better with it. Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

Like an ER doctor.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

The first dead patient. You're like, this is the worst.

I can't do this.

Ten years later, you're like, you know, some people Die. People do be dying.

[Tricia Lee]

Like, I move on. And I also tell everyone on our team, you know, like, one of the first things I. I remember hearing him say when we spoke, I don't think I was working for you. I think I saw you at an event somewhere in Williamsburg, and you were talking about the failing fast and the importance of failing fast calendar trick. Yes. I came into the business with that mindset, like, oh, this is something that I can really apply to my development is learning how to fail fast. I only came here for two reasons. To work with him because I thought that I would have been successful anywhere. But I thought that. I love that statement that he said at a real estate conference. And then the second thing was that I felt like he has a lot on his plate, but he manages himself in a way that you would have no idea how much he has on his plate. And I was like, if I could get those two things down in my own personal and professional development, no one can stop me, you know? So those are the things I've been, like, adapting to.

[Ryan Serhant]

And it's still a work in progress.

[Tricia Lee]

Hey.

[Ryan Serhant]

For both of us.

[Tricia Lee]

But, yeah, those are so important, I think.

[DJ Envy]

Yes.

[Tricia Lee]

It more.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. Dang. What was I going to. Oh, this season, Trisha.

[Tricia Lee]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

Very vulnerable this season.

[Tricia Lee]

Very.

[Podcast Host]

Yes. I mean, you guys have. The personality is what makes you the star of the show. So there's always been that. But what made you tap into some of the things that you decided to talk about, like, you know, your mom and, you know, like.

[Tricia Lee]

Yeah, I felt pressured to do it because I felt like the producers didn't really understand me. And I felt like the most feedback I got from the show a million and one times was your confidence, your confidence, your confidence. And I'm in a. I'm in. You know, I really represent Brooklyn. I'm in Manhattan. I'm dealing with all these. These big transactions, these big numbers. But I walk around the place like I own the place. I walk around the place like my name's on the door. And I felt like, well, why don't I explain kind of like what goes on in my mind and who I am as a person.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Tricia Lee]

This season. So I can stop getting that pushback.

[Podcast Host]

Because I felt like too much confidence was the pushback.

[Tricia Lee]

I think it was like, why so much confidence? And I felt like, well, if I think with most people, if you understand their origin story, then everything else makes sense. So I felt like, okay, well, let me explain a little bit about not only who I am, but the things I've come to learn about myself. And only since being at Sirhant, like, I started with ryan in, like, 21, and I was going through such a huge life change at that time and learning so much about my own personal story that I did not know when I interviewed with him. And so I had changed a lot as a person and definitely as a broker. I show up at work differently. I. I apply myself differently at work. I. I've taken a lot of pressure off of myself because of things I've learned about my. My own origin story. So I felt like if I explain it to the producers, I've explained to the audience, then maybe I can move past it and then you'll understand better why I move in the way that I do when I walk into rooms or when I'm, you know, in spaces where so many people are overqualified and I'm still building. But I still feel like I belong in this room, too.

[Podcast Host]

At what point? At what point, as a black woman, I don't know if it was with this agency or wherever. Cause you were very successful before. Did you realize that that was your asset? Like, just being a black woman in the room who understands her origin story and brings that to the table?

[Tricia Lee]

I think I've always understood that. I think I've always understood that. I think I've always felt the need to, like, give that example because I didn't have a lot of examples when I was growing up. So I've always felt like if they ever give you the mic, then you should make sure that other black girls feel. Feel. Seen that that was. That's what's like. If you have. If I have a personal agenda that's mine, and I'm very vocal about it because I think it's really important. I wish I'd had it when I was younger. And so I feel the need to be. And when I'm out in the city and I'm moving around, I could be anywhere, shopping. I'm seeing little versions of Tricia Lee every single hour of the day. And I know the connection that they have to me. And I think, like, I. I think I'm unstoppable. If I. But if I'd had an example like that for myself, I think it'd be great. So I'd rather. You know, I'd rather cry and tell you my. My dirty laundry and tell you who I am and. And show you who I am. And also show you that this business is hard and that I fail a lot and it's not what it seems. And I mean, I'm gonna look great, but I'm definitely don't look like what I've been through. Like I'm gonna give you all of that. I, I feel like it's a responsibility that comes along with the blessing of this, this, you know, this platform though.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

How much of the emotional drama we see is actually real pressure from deals and careers in life and how much is just like that reality show machine that wants to start things up.

[Tricia Lee]

I mean, for us. Like, I, I thought that they were gonna like have these cameras and come to like, okay, guys, this is gonna. And it's not. It's like you walk in, that's just like how we walked in here and you guys were like, okay, sit down, make sure the mic is close. That's how it is. And so you don't really know what's going to come out of the day because you haven't gotten on the phone yet. The client hasn't yelled at you yet, they haven't fired you yet. You're, you know, your, your co worker hasn't said some nonsense to you that you have to like check her for yet. So I don't really know. I mean, I haven't even seen the show yet, so I really don't know what goes on. I can just tell you what was going on in my business and my life for those months. And they get what they get and they, and they share what they find most interesting.

[DJ Envy]

And how do you deal with, with people yelling at you?

[Ryan Serhant]

Right?

[DJ Envy]

Because at the end of the day you're doing a job for a client, right? And you're trying to do the best job that you can. But sometimes I'm sure things don't go the way that they want. But the disrespect and yelling, I see it sometimes. So how do y' all deal with that?

[Ryan Serhant]

It's never you, you, you have to. Well, it's hard at the beginning until you understand that people never really grow up. They're just disguised as like 40 year old men, you know, and they don't know who else to take it out on, so they take it out on you or married to them. Yeah, but like married couples, like, is she gonna yell at her husband? You know what, it's easier to yell at Jeffrey because she's angry at the situation, not necessarily angry at us. So like you always just have to detach and understand that they're upset situation and you have to be able to empathize with it. And then you just mirror and say, I understand if I Could yell at myself, I would like. I'm here with you. You just keep. You agree, you agree, you agree, and then you hit them with solution, solution, solution. And then they don't know what to do, and they say, just fix it.

Right.

And that's how you. That's how you get through it.

And a lot of this, like, we wear multiple hats. I mean, part of it is a therapist, Right. You know, being able to understand and be empathetic to what they're going through, and then realizing this is someone's most, you know, the biggest asset and so the most expensive asset ever. So you got to really understand where it's coming from. It's not really you. It's just them. And they're like, oh, my God, this isn't happening the way I expected it to happen. So you just have to understand and just have, you know, answers and solutions to whatever the issue is in, like, right then and there.

Most of the time, people are just mad at themselves.

[Tricia Lee]

Yeah.

[Ryan Serhant]

And so they. They just take it out on other people. Yeah, you know, I do that.

[Podcast Host]

So you break down in the. In the trailer?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

You break down just because of all of the, like, pressure. How often do y' all break down even though it's not y'?

[Tricia Lee]

All? Once before lunch and time out for dinner?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, typically 11am Usually.

It varies with the deals and what we're dealing with. You know, like, there are times where, you know, deals just fall apart and you do everything you can. They still fall apart, you know.

[Podcast Host]

What was your. Like, what was it exactly? What is the biggest. This is the cherry on top that now the tears are flowing.

[Ryan Serhant]

That scene. Yeah, that's in the season finale was not anticipated. It wasn't, like, planned or anything. And just goes to how real this show is and how uncomfortable a lot of it is. This show is also really funny. You know, it's very aspirational. It's very sexy, glitzy, big real estate and all that. But then at the same time, it shows all the.

The.

The gutters of the business, too. And there's just a lot. You know, there's a lot going on. I bootstrapped the business for four years by myself, you know, on 100% of it. Everything's on me. Do I grow? Do I not grow? People are angry. People are happy. There's personal pressures. There's no time. I sleep four hours a day. Why did I ever do this? Should I. What. Should I just move? Like, what. You know, there's just, like, a lot of this, and I Have no one to talk to because everyone is biased. Your therapist is biased, your spouse is by your friend, the company, my mom is biased.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

You got a biased therapist.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, but they're all, they're biased to you. They want what's best for you.

Always.

If you're a therapist and you're watching this, my email is ryan sirhant.com.

[Podcast Host]

You gotta get a whole lot of resumes for a real estate.

[Ryan Serhant]

I need mental health. And I was talking to my ex, ex assistant who I just have like a very kind of like friendly relationship with. And he was in my email for five years. So he just knows my life. And it was the first time I'd actually just like talked about everything that was going on. And you know, I think I say like I, I focus on the work because the work keeps me focused and I don't know what else to do. And then there was just an awkward silence and then I just lost it. And then the cameras are there. I'm like, oh Jesus.

[Tricia Lee]

I feel like everyone found out about that though. Like Ryan was crying and I was like, wait. And we're like, he doesn't many emotions. How do you pull that off?

[Ryan Serhant]

That man has no heart.

[DJ Envy]

Do you still think that the people from Million Dollar Listing. Cuz I, that I feel like they just, just off the face of the planet like any of those guys anymore?

[Ryan Serhant]

No, it's crazy. No, I, I, I don't see.

[DJ Envy]

You don't see them no more. You don't hear any shows about.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

I just realized it's a different, it's not the same show.

This minute.

This is a different show.

[Ryan Serhant]

Start with season one, start with season two.

[DJ Envy]

And they were big characters. You just don't see them anymore. And it's just weird that you just.

[Ryan Serhant]

Listen you, you, I'm like Owning Manhattan is my fifth reality show. I did four for Bravo, Million Dollar Listing, a wedding show, a renovation show, and then a show called Sell it. Like Sirhant, which we turned into sell it.com, which is a sales training business. And then Owning Manhattan, which we, you know, push over to Netflix. And I think what's, what's cool for us is I think for other shows and the other guys, right, a lot of people like you talked about, they get on TV and they want to be on tv. They want to be famous, they want to become influencers and sell toasters or whatever the fuck. The three of us have like fame as a byproduct of our ability to do more business and build the greatest careers of all time. And I think the audience sees that and so they keep giving us more because it's just real. And so I built a sales team, my first, you know, career as a real estate agent on the back of Bravo, you know, million dollar listing. And now we're building a company in kind of a meta way on the backs of Netflix. And people get to watch like going from a couple of us at a dinner table to, okay, there's 1500 of us now in 15 states. Yeah, what does that look like? And then just watch that whole Janet. To raising money for the first time, to getting fired, having people quit on you.

And so, yeah, so I think the other guys, you know, were. I mean, I think there's a lot of one hit wonders out there across the board. You see it in music, you see it in sports, you know, and so we work really, really hard to focus on the work. If you take care of the work, the work will take care of you.

[Podcast Host]

What's the. So Southern Sunset and y' all Owning Manhattan. There's always been like, I kind of feel like it's a little fan created, but you know that there's like the comparison of the shows. And then I saw Chrishell had commented on the post that you put up Ryan, and she was like, oh, we need some of your leadership over here on the West Coast.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And the fans was like, oh, she's throwing shade at her own bosses. I don't know how many brothers. Right?

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host]

What's, like, what is happening? It's about to be like a crossover or something. Like why she knows when she comments that where that's going to go.

[Ryan Serhant]

I think she's just, she just quit the show. She quit Selling Sunset a couple weeks ago. I have a great relationship with her. She's hilarious, she's funny. She's. She's really fun to watch actually on, on tv. And I've known her for a long time. I don't know. People make a lot of comments on social media. I don't, I try not to read too much into them. I know Jason and Brett as well. I was actually just with them and they're super, super cool. I think selling Sunset is just a very different, just a different format. It's just a different show. It's a different format. I, I don't think you're tuning into that show for like the deals and the process and the entrepreneurial. Yeah, yeah. And so Owning Manhattan is just very, very, very different. And I'm all for the drama, like create the controversy, creates more views it.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

Does say a lot about you, though, that your face card is, you know, so clean that people see you on TV and see a real estate show and they're gonna watch.

[Ryan Serhant]

Yeah, yeah.

That's 10 years.

Yeah. I let the. I let the. The drama come from other people.

There you go.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

I do have one question.

[Podcast Host]

Look at me.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

Yeah.

[DJ Envy]

Not.

[Ryan Serhant]

Not us. I can tell you that.

[Jeffrey St. Armand]

How do you build a culture where ambition doesn't turn into ego and poison this team that y' all built?

[Ryan Serhant]

First. Oh, well, first, just all. What I'll say is I see that a lot because a lot of ambition can be confused with aggression. And especially when you're in sales because you eat what you kill. We make it really, really clear from the get go that we have a one strike policy for behavior. And if you do not understand the difference between being ambitious and being aggressive, you cannot work here and we let you go. And that happens way more often than I'd like because it can be. Be uncomfortable. And then I think you got to lead by example. Like, Trisha and Jeffrey do that for their team. They lead by example. They're a great partnership in real life and in business, which is hard to find. And I don't know how they do it.

Like, they get in the car and they're still together. It's crazy, but I think we started.

[Tricia Lee]

We started like, dating in the business. Like, my first sales manager, my first day was like, are you single? And I was like, that's odd. And he's like, okay, you are so sit here. And so he sat me right in front of his office, which I thought I was like, this is creepy. But actually he was sitting me right in front of Jeffrey because he was on this side. So we met.

[Ryan Serhant]

I paid him off a little bit.

[Tricia Lee]

Is that what happened? Okay, I knew something happened. So we met in the business. So we've always kind of.

[Ryan Serhant]

Put that out there. We don't do that at our company.

[Tricia Lee]

We don't.

[Ryan Serhant]

We don't check their relationship status.

[Podcast Host]

Sat down and did what?

[Tricia Lee]

We sat down and then it was like, oh, you can ask me if you have any questions. And he was maybe a year, nine months ahead of me. And so I would like, I would just like, you know, lean over the desk and be like, what does that mean? Or what is. Because I'm running my nail salons at the time, and I'm just coming into the office literally from seven to noon, and then I had to, like, literally go to my shops and go manage a whole nother business. I was just Trying to get my feet wet. And he would be one of the very few people that were in the office at 7am and so we started to start talking and I'd ask him questions and I don't know anything, but I'm literally in there like, oh, he's pretty smart. Yeah, I can talk to him. Like he, he, I thought I knew more than him. Even though I was brand new and knew nothing, that's how I walked in there. And he really helped me. My first year I had phenomenal sales. I broke a 14 year record at Corcoran for first year sales. I sold 21 houses. But a lot of that had to do with the fact that I had a little cheat because every time I had a question I was like, so what do we do now? You know? And so operationally he was teaching me a lot. I knew marketing, I knew business, I knew I'd, I was running businesses, but I didn't know a lot of the stuff in real estate.

[Ryan Serhant]

And really the piece that, I mean, Trish is a monster, but it's really like trying to be in front, in front of the camera and understanding that it's important now in, in real estate because you were just your brand before. So just like helping her to push to do that. And once that, yeah, you got that going.

[Tricia Lee]

My beauty business allowed me to be in the background and just put the brand out. So it wasn't about me. You just had to like the brand and the logo. And then when I got into real estate, I learned that it was only about you and people had to like you and want to work with you and so you had to put yourself out there.

[DJ Envy]

Well, I would say I respect real estate agents so much more. I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a business where you really have to learn on your own. Like they put you in a room and you gotta figure it out. You gotta figure everything out. Now there are mentors there, there are people that guide. But it's a tough business. Like I said, my daughter's first sale, by the time everybody got paid, she got $900.

[Tricia Lee]

Oh, I got 1100. There you go.

[DJ Envy]

And we celebrated, we celebrated like 9.

[Tricia Lee]

Million 6 months, $1,100.

[DJ Envy]

I seen how much work she put into it and it was like, wow. And it's. And when you first start off, it's not just houses, it's rentals, and then it's this and then it's that, and then you get a piece of this and it's a tough business. So I appreciate all you guys. I've never seen and I've been hard on agents sometimes, but after seeing I'll be like, maybe I.

[Tricia Lee]

They say 90% of New York State, New York state real estate license are not renewed. Yeah, 90% too hard. That's our failure rate.

[Ryan Serhant]

Especially after the last two years in this industry. Whoever's still in the business now, you know that they're good.

[DJ Envy]

Oh, and you got to pay yearly for your license. So it's not like it just keeps going on.

[Ryan Serhant]

Right, Right.

[DJ Envy]

She got to pay hers by December 31st this year.

[Ryan Serhant]

Jersey.

[DJ Envy]

But anyway, $500. But anyway, we appreciate you guys for joining us. Season 2 of Owning Manhattan is on Netflix right now. Ryan Sirhan, Tricia lee and Jeffrey St. Aman, thank you so much. How about our niece? Our niece is looking for something.

[Ryan Serhant]

She's gonna come right to Brooklyn. I already spoke to her.

[DJ Envy]

Okay, say no more. Good. All right.

[Ryan Serhant]

It's the Breakfast Club.

[DJ Envy]

Good morning.

Every day I wake up.

[Ryan Serhant]

Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club.

[LifeLock Advertiser]

Tis the season for identity theft. This time of year, most of us are checking off our holiday gift lists. But guess what? Identity thieves have lists too. And your personal information might be on them. Protect your identity with Lifelock. Lifelock monitors hundreds of millions of data points every second and alerts you to threats you could miss by yourself. Even if you keep an eye on your bank and credit card statements. If your identity is stolen, your own US based restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed. Or your money back. And all plans are backed by the million dollar protection package. The last thing you want to do this holiday season is face drained accounts, fraudulent loans or other financial losses from identity theft all alone. Make this season about joy, not identity theft. With Lifelock, save up to 40% your first year. Call 1-800-LIFELOCK and use promo code IHEARTRA or go to lifelock.com iheart for 40% off terms.

[Ryan Serhant]

Apply Amazon Five Star Theater presents real customer reviews performed by Ed Helms. Tonight's tactical jacket.

[DJ Envy]

I was living a simple life.

[Ryan Serhant]

Didn't get out much. Then I bought this jacket and everything changed. Women came flocking to me from lands domestic and foreign. On the 245 day sailboat voyage home, I was attacked by a shark. I knew it was the jacket he was after. Giving up the jacket in exchange for my life. 5 stars, Amazon Customer 69 Shop the perfect gift this holiday on Amazon.

[Tricia Lee]

This is Sophie Cunningham from Show Me Something. Do you know the symptoms of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, or osa? In adults with obesity, they may be happening to you without you knowing. If anyone has ever said you snored loudly, or if you spend your days fighting off excessive tiredness, irritability and concentration issues, it may be due to osa. OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation. Learn more at don'tsleep on OSA.com this information is provided by Lilly, A Medicine company.

[Ryan Serhant]

Janice Torres here and I'm Austin Hankwitz. We host the podcast Mind the Small Business Success Stories, produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Intuit QuickBooks.

[Podcast Host]

We're back for season four to talk.

[Tricia Lee]

To some incredible small business owners.

[Ryan Serhant]

The big thing about working at tech is that it's ever evolving, ever changing. Everyone's a rookie. That's how fast the industry is changing. So what I'm really excited about is to be part of that change. So listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Running a business is hard enough. Don't make it harder With a dozen apps that don't talk to each other. One for sales, another for inventory, a separate one for accounting. That's software overload. Odoo is the all in one platform.

That replaces them all.

CRM, accounting, inventory, E Commerce, hr. Fully integrated, easy to use, and built to grow with your business. Thousands have already made the switch. Why not try Odoo for free at o d o o.com that's odoo.com this.

[Podcast Host]

Is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.